She will not participate in the meeting of her leaders with their counterparts from , this evening, which is the first time in many years.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Serbian media that neither he nor any other official will represent the country at this intergovernmental meeting. As he mentioned, this is the first time in the last 13 or 14 years that Serbia is absent from such a conference, leaving – as he said – the Western Balkans without the Serbian presence.
Vucic described his decision as purely personal, arguing that in doing so he sought to safeguard Serbia’s national interests and sovereignty.
Under the fear of Russia the movement?
It is recalled that at a dinner held in Brussels on December 10 with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the Serbian president proposed the simultaneous integration of all six countries of the Western Balkans into the European Union. However, such a scenario is not considered realistic in today’s circumstances. Instead, it is now estimated that countries such as Albania and Montenegro may be ahead of Serbia in the accession process, despite the fact that Belgrade gained candidate country status as early as 2012.
Serbia has traditionally maintained close ties with Russia, on which it depends for energy, mainly for the supply of natural gas. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Belgrade came under intense pressure to distance itself from Moscow, but did not change its stance.
